These First Nations kids played a song to attract grizzly bears — and it worked

A group of First Nations children played a traditional song with drums on Sunday at Metro Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain, and ended up catching the attention of curious grizzly bears in the process.

Six children from the Squamish Nation (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw) were on a trip to the popular Grouse Mountain resort, which includes a grizzly bear wilderness sanctuary where tourists can get a glimpse of the reclusive creatures.

While there, the children played a tune called the Grizzly Bear Song, which comes from one of the nation’s hereditary chiefs, Ian Campbell.

And in a moment that was caught on video, bears came out of the bush and up to the sanctuary fence to curiously examine the six drummers, whose traditional song describes their connection to nature and to the bears themselves.

Young musicians go viral after coaxing grizzlies with their Grizzly Bear Song

The video has since gone viral, and both the children and the group’s co-ordinator say they’re proud that the nation’s heritage is now being shown off to a global audience.

“It felt, like, really amazing … I felt so blessed when they came really close to us,” said Jonah Nahanee, one of the kids.

“It’s fun to sing with my culture,” he added.

The kids in the group range from 10 to 11 years old, and all of them expressed joy at the fact the bears seemed to want to listen to their songs.

In the video, a bear comes close to the fence where the boys are singing and looks at them all in turn as they continue to drum.

One of the boys, Thomas Jacobs, says it’s the closest he’s ever been to a grizzly.

“I think we’ve been doing this for three or two years, and I just love singing for my culture,” he told CBC News.

Jennifer Nahanee, Jonah’s mother and the group’s co-ordinator, says the drummers are called the Proud Little Warriors, and they have regular practices at least once a month.

She said the kids — who’ve been learning the Squamish language and music for years — know more about the songs’ meaning than she does.

“I don’t always know what the words mean, but I can definitely feel it in my Sḵwálwen — in my heart,” she said.

“And, you know, I shed a tear when they were singing up at Grouse Mountain, just because you know how proud I am to see how far they’ve come.”

Nahanee said that her video has racked up more than a million views, and she’s gotten messages of support from people who speak Spanish and other languages.

“I’m happy, you know, to get our language and our culture out there, let people know that we’re still here, you know?” Nahanee said. 

“That we are still speaking our language and, you know, we know our culture and our songs and … Squamish Nation people are still here.”